1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus, that is, a lathe charger, for automatically supplying raw wood to a veneer lathe such that the cutting center of the raw wood is determined so that the cutting center of the raw wood and the axis of a spindle of the veneer lathe coincide with each other.
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, a method and an apparatus for centering raw wood have been disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-60001. The method of centering raw wood comprises the steps of: rotating raw wood about a temporary center by a holding claw disposed at a limit of rearward movement of the raw wood to wait for raw wood; detecting the profiles of cross sections of a plurality of portions in the lengthwise direction of the raw wood so that the coordinates of the axis of the overall body of the raw wood are obtained; forwards moving the holding claw in accordance with the coordinates so that the position of the raw wood in the direction of the X axis is corrected; downwards moving a conveying claw so that the position of the raw wood in the direction of the Y axis is corrected; and changing the claw for holding the raw wood from the holding claw to the conveying claw. The apparatus for centering raw wood comprises: an X-axis correction unit which permits a pair of bearing boxes to move horizontally between frames which are stood erect; spindles each having a holding claw at an end thereof and a rotational-angle sensor and slidably inserted into the pair of the bearing boxes; a mobile unit made to be movable such that the mobile unit is guided by a horizontal beam; conveying claws permitted to be moved upwards/downwards by a Y-axis correction unit and suspended from two sides of the mobile unit: and a displacement-amount sensor provided for the base end of each of a plurality of swingable arms disposed at arbitrary intervals in a lengthwise direction of the raw wood and connected by a pin, wherein an output of an amount of correction of the forward movement of the bearing box is produced to the X-axis correction unit and an output of an amount of correction of the downward movement of the conveying claw is produced to the Y-axis correction unit in accordance with the coordinates of the total axis obtained from data of each of the rotational-angle sensor and the displacement-amount sensor.
The above-mentioned conventional technology, however, suffers from the following problem: the X-axis correction unit must have the structure that both of the pair of the bearing boxes are made to be movable individually in the horizontal direction. Therefore, the manufacturing cost of the apparatus cannot be reduced and the structure becomes too complicated.